Three Snaps: What LA Fashion Week 2015 Looked Like!

LA Fashion Week had numerous fashion events that included collections from Concept Los Angeles, Los Angeles Fashion Council and Sue Wong. The fashion shows ran the gambit of artistic statements, industry insider up-and-comers to Haute Couture. The following days last week were busy days where the creativity and heat of LA Fashion Week was exposed to lively audiences with varying approaches to styles and choices that anticipates marvelous looks for the 2015 fall season.

The first set of collections rolled out for LA Fashion Week on Saturday the 7th of March from Concept Los Angeles Fall/Winter 2015 fashion shows. The designers represented on this fashion outing were: Mike Vensel, Camila Castillo, Elaine Marie, Jen Awad and Camilia Skikos. The setting was at Beachwood Studios in Hollywood close to Santa Monica Boulevard. The studio was a white cyc with lots of head space and large enough to accommodate a healthy crowd of fashion fans and stylist.

Mike Vensel

Mike Vensel‘s collection called “Power”was lean, with clean lines and hand painted touches. Mike put it this was: “The collection I just designed is titled Power. It’s about people realizing their strength. For anybody that feels “Less-than” in society so they can realize they are strong, beautiful and have something they can express about the world.” The fabric Mike predominately used rayon modal and cotton twills in this collection.

Camela Castillo

Camila Castillo‘s collection followed Mike Vensel’s work. Her looks were much more body conscious with accents of metallics and textured leathers. Camila’s father was a plastic sculptor and finds inspiration in Naum Gabo, the minimalism of the 1960’s and origami. Camila makes mockups in paper and she uses those mockups to create her leather work. Her ideas behind her work are a combination of the artistic and sexy: the ideas for creating a sensual experience with her designs.

Elaine Marie

Elaine Marie followed with a clearly sensual and feminine look to her collection. She surrounded her models with scattered rose petals encircling them with a slideshow of luscious florals behind them. I was impressed that she used models that were size 4 to 6 for her presentation. They were wonderfully big leggy ladies that wore her body hugging cotton lycra dresses with plunging tops and with lace-up accents. Elaine Marie’s collection is targeted for anyone from age 20 to 35 and is inspired by what she’s ideally what’s to wear when she goes out. Elaine Marie put this way, “My model was a little more voluptuous than other models. That was intentional, because my line is very sexy and I want the models to have curves.”

Jen Awad

Jen Award‘s collection was next on the bill with a splash of color and shapely fun designs. Jen’s line was a complete line of evening and party wear for the coming fall. There were midis and minis with flowing silks, metallics and suit styled looks with satin and textured looks. Her inspiration was as Jen put it: “What would they wear if they went out to an after party. It’s all about having fun, you know! Real statement pieces like ostrich feathers boleros with really rich colored suedes: like cobalt blues and royal purples and all very jewel tone inspired.” Jen Awad’s was a complete fall and winter statement that was clean and sexy.

Camillia Skikos

Camelia Skikos‘ collection closed out Concept Los Angeles fashion at Beachwood Studios. It was immediately apparent that Skikos work utilized curvilinear lines associated with constructivism. This brought to mind “Victory Over the Sun”, Kazimir Malevich‘s opera and the creator of Supreitism. The second thing that came to mind was Kansai Yamamoto design for David Bowie. Skikos then shared her thought about her line when she said, “My inspiration was Victor Vasarely. The collection was about contrast, black and white, soft and hard, shiny and mat, delicate and strong and it about contrast and quality.”Victor Vasarely was a constructivist and a member of Bauhaus. During his black and white period he created his Tribute to Malevitch: is a reference to the notable Russian artist Kazimir Malevich. Camelia Skikos’ looks are optically meditative and high concept driven. They work as much as an art installation as they do fashion: high concept fashion!

The catwalk beckoned once again for the final day of fashion at Maker City LA for Los Angeles Fashion Council Collections. The designers represented on this fashion here were: Rochelle Carino, Michael Ngo, Vilorija by Jelena Vujanovic and William Bradley by Brad Parnell and Rodney Jones. This group of designers used the most varied palet to express their runway fashion looks. They all had a marvelous approach that touch on 60’s and 70’s inspirations, sheer, rubber and studded takes on fetishy and B&D stylings and very feminine takes on ready-to-wear. The show was delivered with a New York take on catwalk. Media was there to catch all the actions and angles these designers could deliver.

Rochelle Carino

Starting the day off was Rochelle Carino with her 60’s and 70’s inspired choices. Her looks were inspired by Bridget Bardot with pops of color utilizing baby blues, rusty oranges, and Kelly greens. There were minis and slacks with jackets and playful dresses. The looks were fun and sweet.

Michael Ngo

Michael Ngo followed with a large, stirring and provocative runway exhibition of his collection. Undoubtedly, the most impressive and dramatic presentation outside of Sue Wong’s “Mythos and Goddesses” for Fashion week. Ngo’s collection is inspired by New York underground vogue scene, specifically Willi Ninja, who is regarded as the grandfather of vogue. Michael’s work utilizes lots of sheer fabric, leather and rubber for his evening party looks that was a mix for body exposure for a sexy vibe with leather and rubber for dominance feel to lift the experience to that of performance and heightened expectations for night gear. His other evening options included a delicious metallic green kimono. As Michael put it, “The collection embodies channeling your inner warrior, embracing your inner strengths and struggles, and making the best of who you are.”

Jelena Vujanovic

Next was Vilorija by Jelena Vujanovic who provided a clean and charming line of “Gurlie” ready-to-wear looks that are so complementary and friendly to the female form. Jelena says, “She wanted to design pieces that were wearable and practical, and that women could wear to look chic and gorgeous on any occasion, day or night.” These mid0century inspired looks are fun, playful and sexy.

Brad Parnell and Rodney Jones

William Bradley designed by Brad Parnell and Rodney Jones was the ending show for Los Angeles Fashion Council. William Bradley’s fall line is called, “Tying the Knot”. The line has lots of strong and clean lines with ponchos, fun mid-length skirts in contrast to satiny pants and sheer flowy tops.

Tying the Knot line is, as Rodney puts it, is Mid-Century inspired, which is where the collection’s pastel colors came in, and the architectural pieces came from Brad, who is more Art Deco driven. Since getting married was the collection’s theme, they fused the two styles together in one happy marriage. They also chose to use grosgrain ribbons for the accent bows, grosgrain is the strongest ribbon, and when you’re tying the knot, symbolically or otherwise, it’s good to have a strong foundation. You can see the blinds of sensibilities in the photos presented here from their show.

La Fashion week finished strongly with the LA Fashion Council’s show at Maker City LA. There were lots of great ideas expressed with combination textures, smart designs and wonderful presentations that will keep it lively for the 2015 Fall and winter season.

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About Billy Bennight

Billy Bennight is a writer, photographer and wardrobe stylist with expertise and years of experience in these disciplines. His musical youth started as a Punk Rocker and has expanded into exploring many genres of music, with an keen interest in art, fashion, photography and writing. He shoots celebrity events and red carpets for The Photo Access and ZUMA Press. He is a member of the Los Angeles Art Association. His images have been published in The Los Angeles Times, People Magazine, Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair. He's very engaged in life. You can follow him on his Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/billybennightartist and on Instagram and Twitter @billybennight